The Italian police claimed that the protestors had attacked them; the
Greek prosecutor called this a "a distortion of reality."

17 August 2001
An Italian woman who participated in the anti-globalization
demonstrations at the G8 summit in Genoa returned to her home in
Padua, and was later found strangled in a river.
Her attacker used such force that bones in her neck were broken.

4 August 2001
I have more information about the Britons who were kidnaped by Italian
police in Genoa. They were Richard Byrne, a vet from east London, and
John Harper and Julie Quinn, both of Glasgow. What they have in
common is that they have participated in
nonviolent disarmament protests
at Faslane nuclear base in the UK. (For the record, I am
not particularly a supporter of that cause myself--but the issue here
is how they should be treated for advocating it.) Three other
protestors that had been arrested at Faslane were expelled from Italy
a day earlier. One of them, Brian Quail, announced on July 22 that
his son was detained by police with machine guns as a suspected "terrorist".
(His son is not even involved in the protests.)

The Faslane protests follow the strictest nonviolent tradition--"I
have crossed your line, so now please arrest me"--and involve nothing
that even hints at force. The only danger these protestors pose,
whether at Faslane or in Genoa, is the danger they might convince
others to share their nonstandard political views. When British
police treat dissenters as terrorists, the implications for democracy
in Britain are dark.

31 July 2001
Here is the statement of Norman Blair, one of those attacked by
police while sleeping in the Diaz School in Genoa. He was beaten, arrested
and tortured, and he describes how other victims were treated.

The charges against him were dropped by the judge, who said his arrest
was illegal, but even then he was not freed by the police; instead, he
was deported from Italy and forbidden to return for 5 years, with no
due process of law. He plans to sue.

Starhawk, a witness to the police attacks on sleeping protestors and
independent journalists in Genoa, now reports on the implications of their tactics.
When the police forced imprisoned protestors to cheer Benito Mussolini, the leader of Fascism in Italy, this was no coincidence.

Eventually they were charged with vandalism, endangerment of public
safety and membership in a criminal organization. Under Italian law,
people charged with membership in a criminal organization may be
denied contact with anyone but a lawyer.

The police confiscated knives that the caravan used to prepare food to
give away at their performances, black clothing and assorted theatre
props and costumes. All of these things are to be used as evidence of
the caravan's supposed crimes. Italian Carabinieri have already
beaten people for sleeping; now the police are going after people for
cooking and performing.

29 July 2001
The Italian daily
la Repubblica
interviewed a police officer who was involved in the
beatings at the Diaz school and elsewhere in Genoa. "I still have the
smell in my nose, the smell of the faeces of those arrested who were
not allowed to use a toilet." "What happened at the school and
continued here in Bolzaneto was the suspension of rights, a hole in
the constitution. I tried to talk about it to some of my colleagues
and do you know what they said? That we don't need to worry because
we're covered!" The interview
translated into English and
in Italian.

26 July 2001A New Zealand journalist was arrested and beaten
in the raid on the Diaz school
in Genoa -- then charged with, among other spurious charges, attempted
murder. He is currently not allowed to contact anyone. It is evident
that neither the police nor the prosecutors respect the law. For
them, it is just an excuse to attack and imprison dissidents.

A sequence of pictures of the
shooting of protestor Carlo Giuliani
suggests that he was holding a police fire
extinguisher to shield himself from the policeman's gun, and not
attacking anyone.

As their police guard killed and maimed protestors, the
G8 summit offered lip service
instead of significant help for the global problems that the protestors demanded attention for.

Aileen O'Carroll has written
an analysis of television coverage of Genoa.
"The Italian police were looking for revenge when they attacked the Indymedia
centre. Their choice of victim sent out a clear message; 'we do not
want you to be able to tell the truth of what happened in Genoa'. They
would rather we relied instead on the mainstream media with their
acceptable assumptions. They do not want the status quo to be
challenged. If you were in Genoa, make sure you tell
your story."

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Italian police are warning
journalists to stay away from the protests because protestors
might attack journalists. Can you believe such gall?

But people were filmed getting out of a police van dressed as
protestors, and then breaking windows and engaging in general
vandalism. Maybe they attack journalists, too.

21 July 2001
At least two protestors have been killed in connection with the G8
summit in Geneva. One was shot by police then run over by their vehicle.
Another was killed at the border between France and Italy
where EU citizens are supposed to have free passage. One or two body
bags were taken out of the Diaz school, after
police invaded it and
beat up sleeping protestors. It is not known whether they contained
corpses, but many of the protestors had to be carried to the hospital
on stretchers. Once there, they were all arrested, and some were
later tortured.

A woman taking photos was attacked by 7 policemen, who dragged her
behind a van and beat her, while others destroyed her film. The
police seem to be trying to destroy the evidence of their crimes.

Three Britons were kidnaped by police at Genoa airport. The police
held them prisoner incommunicado for 8 hours, hiding them from the
lawyer who was looking for them, all the while claiming that they were
not under arrest. (People who are arrested have a legal right to see
their lawyers.) The men were ultimately forced onto a plane back to
Britain, still prisoners, still "not under arrest".

It is normal for police to arrest suspects, but since these men were
taken prisoner and transported without having been arrested, let alone
convicted of a crime, kidnaping is the only applicable term.

21 July 2001
To hinder protests against the G8 summit in Genoa, Italian police have
been raiding activists' homes and offices all over Italy. By claiming
they are searching for weapons, they have bypassed the democratic
formality of search warrants. They have found no weapons, but they
have reportedly confiscated other property ranging from helmets to
papers. The police in Genoa have been randomly searching people on
the street, and one victim was arrested for having a butter knife.
One wonders when people who know karate will be arrested for carrying
their hands and feet.

The pattern from previous protests suggests that the police are likely
to step up their hostile activities until they get a "violent"
response (though probably lesser harsh than what the police have
already done). This will then be reported in the mainstream media as
an excuse for even worse police violence.